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LISA Vienna Region Ebendorferstraße 4 1010 Vienna AUSTRIA PHONE: +43-1-4000-86934 FAX: +43-1-4000-7099 E-MAIL: ecker@lisavr.at WEB: www.lisavr.at
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LIFE SCIENCE AUSTRIA Ü vienna region’s newsletter
LIFE SCIENCE AUSTRIA Ü vienna region’s newsletter
AUSTRIAN BIOTECH COMPANIES AT CHICAGO'S BIO 2006 MEET US AT THE AUSTRIAN PAVILION (BOOTH 335)
DANCE WITH US AUSTRIA INVITES YOU TO LEARN THE VIENNESE WALTZ
Austrian organisations represented at BIO 2006 range from diagnostic specialists to companies engaged in vaccine development with products already in phase III, and from small start-ups to listed companies.
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Apeiron Biologics' objective is to translate biological knowledge into innovative biopharmaceutical products for the treatment of diseases with serious unmet medical needs. Austrianova focuses on cancer therapy. Its principal product is used in treating pancreas cancer and has been granted orphan drug status by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). A multicentre phase III trial has started recently. Eucodis uses its novel technology platform to improve or produce therapeutic proteins and industrial enzymes.The technologies are based on in vivo recombination and somatic hypermutation. Greenhills Biotechnology's expertise is in applying the latest virological discoveries to products combating viral infectious diseases and cancer. GHB's core competence is its extensive knowledge of virology, in particular with respect to interactions between viruses and host cells.
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BIO 2006 AUSTRIAN PAVILION, BOOTH 335 TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 5:00 - 6:30 P.M.
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Igeneon, a 100% subsidiary of Apthon Corporation, focuses on the development of immunotherapeutic products for fighting cancer. Its most advanced product, IGN 101, is currently undergoing Phase III trials. Oridis Biomed maintains one of the world's largest tissue banks, which can be used for target validation. Its first product is used for the diagnosis of liver cancer. Sanochemia Pharmazeutika AG concentrates on diseases of the central nervous system. Its strengths are in the development and synthesis of drugs used against senile dementia and in the treatment of strokes and epilepsy.
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In addition to these companies, which share the Austrian Pavilion, the Austrian company Intercell (Booth 426) is also present at BIO 2006. Intercell is a specialist in vaccine development with lead products against Japanese encephalitis and hepatitis C. The LISA VR team is available to answer your enquiries at the booth during BIO 2006 please e-mail us to arrange an appointment: ecker@lisavr.at
Dear Readers, The year 2005 was a very successful one: in February, Intercell AG became the first Austrian biotech company to obtain a stock exchange listing, and Biovertis AG's acquisition of Morphochem AG in December is a further evidence that Vienna's biotech scene is as lively as ever. Collaborative cross-border projects are not just a political platitude in Vienna, but very much part of everyday life. The start of new collaborative ventures with partners in neighbouring countries in Eastern and South East Europe has especially enhanced that status. Five life sciences companies secured significant quantities of Viennese grant funding for transnational projects with partners in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Before it closed in June 2005, Best of Biotech, the multinational business plan competition, had attracted lively interest from scientists in Hungary and the Czech Republic.
For more about what's going on in Vienna's life science industry, read on. Michaela Fritz Edeltraud Stiftinger Executive Board
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NEW BIOINFORMATICS CHAIRS IN VIENNA
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PEOPLE Sonja Hammerschmid, who pioneered public funding for life sciences in Austria, is leaving the management team of Life Science Austria Vienna Region (LISA VR) to join the Advisory Board with effect from the beginning of 2006. We should like to take this opportunity to thank her for all her work over the past years, and look forward to working with her in her new capacity.
01/2006
In November 2005, David Kreil and Arndt von Haeseler started to establish their bioinformatics groups.
Left to right: Arndt von Haeseler (Max F. Perutz Laboratories) David Kreill (University of Natural Ressources and Applied Life Sciences)
Sequencing projects, high throughput methods and the dramatic improvement in the performance of computers has transformed the biosciences into a hightech discipline, and bioinformatics is playing an increasingly important role in model building and theory formulation.
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Arndt von Haeseler is establishing the Centre for Integrative Bioinformatics at the new Max F. Perutz Laboratories, which are the joint creation of Vienna University and the Medical University of Vienna. One of his main interests is the analysis of DNA sequences from different species to determine degrees of relatedness. Modern DNA can thus be used to explore far back into the past. www.wwtf.at | www.gen-au.at
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David Kreil Austrian born, David Kreil has been brought back from Cambridge to Vienna's University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. Since the interpretation of data generated by modern biochips is at present a considerable challenge, the main emphasis of his work is the potential weakness of microarrays. Funding available for bioinformatics Towards the end of December 2005 the second phase of the Austrian Genome Research Programme (GEN-AU) started. Austria is making a further EUR 31 million available for genome research. Part of this money will be used to continue the funding for the Austrian Bioinformatics Integration Network, which links the academic institutions in Austria working in bioinformatics.
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